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Gazprom logo: The Russian company is supposed to deliver natural gas to Hungary, bypassing Ukraine
Photo: Evgenia Novozhenina / REUTERS
The dispute between Hungary and Ukraine over a Hungarian gas agreement with the Russian Gazprom group is coming to a head.
Now both countries have summoned their ambassadors to each other.
On Monday, an agreement between Budapest and Gazprom was announced on the supply of up to 4.5 billion cubic meters of gas per year for 15 years - Ukraine will be bypassed.
This sparked severe criticism from the government in Kiev.
Hungary, in turn, accused Ukraine of meddling.
The Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto criticized the outraged Ukrainian reaction to the agreement on Monday via Facebook as a "violation of our sovereignty".
"Heavy blow for Ukrainian-Hungarian relations"
A spokesman for the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry described the plans as a threat to "national and European energy security."
Ukraine was "surprised" and "disappointed" by Hungary's decision, "which the Kremlin will take".
The agreement is "a severe blow to Ukrainian-Hungarian relations."
The classic route for Russian natural gas runs through Ukraine and is lucrative for the country.
However, Russia is looking for other ways to bypass Ukraine.
Most recently, the completion of the Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea pipeline at the beginning of September caused a dispute, through which Russian natural gas is transported to Germany.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Ukraine had "no right to interfere in relations between Russia and Hungary."
Since 2014, there has been a conflict between pro-Russian separatists and the Ukrainian army in eastern Ukraine, in which more than 13,000 people have already been killed.
Kiev and its western allies accuse Russia of sending troops and weapons to support the separatists in eastern Ukraine.
Moscow denies this.
asc / AFP / Reuters